m17x-r1 issues since upgrading to single 5870m

Hi guys,

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I figured it would be helpful if I included as much information as possible

So I was hoping to get some help/advice/insight here. I recently purchased a single 5870m off ebay, re-pasted it and installed it in my m17x-r1 this week, replacing the single GTX 260m I had before. Everything seemed to install fine, but the issues began after that.

One of the first things I tried after installation was Furmark to ensure that my card temps weren't too high. After 15 min, they seemed to flatline around 85c, so card temps seem to be acceptable.

But as soon as I tried gaming, it seemed like the performance I was getting out of this card was worse than my GTX 260m on some games.

So I began troubleshooting to see if I had any issues with my card.

First I ran 3dmark06. My score was just over 10,000. This does not seem right to me. I once was able to get my oc'd gtx260m to score 12,000. This to me seems like an issue. My processor is only a q9000, but I don't see how that should be the issue here since I scored higher before with this same system but with the gtx 260m.

So I have spent the last 3 days trying to figure this issue out, looking all over google and all over NBR, and I can't seem to figure out a) If I do have an issue here and b) What that issue might be.

Today I downloaded GPU-Z and to see if that would help, and one thing I noticed is that my PCI bus interface is always at pci-e 1.1x16.0. Even when I load a game, this never changes. Could this be the issue? ? I turned off the option for PCI power saving in command center, so that doesn't seem to be affecting it.

Also, my stealth mode is definitely not on.

And in my Bios when I boot the computer, if I enable PCI Gen 2, my computer freezes before it boots up. Could that be the issue?

My bios version currently is A07, and my ATI drivers are up to date.

When I installed the 5870m, I uninstalled all Nvidia drivers using drive sweeper, ran cc cleaner, and then installed the card, and updated the drivers. I didn't flash any Vbios (which I still do not know how to do even after trying to figure it out), but everything installed fine (I think) so I didn't think I needed too.

So needless to say, I am at a complete loss. If anyone could provide me some insight, or advice, I would be extremely grateful.

I will post a screenshot of GPU-Z fairly shortly here.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

 

I seem to be hardly getting 30 fps in Far Cry 3 on medium setting, DX11 not enabled on a 1440x900 screen with FOV and V-sync turned off.

I have tried turning down every setting in the CCC, but that seems to affect nothing.

If anyone would like me to provide anymore info, or screenshots that may help, please just ask

Thanks

 

So just an update.

I ran 3d mark vantage and 3d mark 11 today to get a better idea of how my card is performing.

3D Mark Vantage score : P8195

Graphics score: 8410
CPU Score: 7611

3D Mark 11 score: P2178

Graphics score: 2104
Physics Score: 2699
Combined Score: 2128

Can anyone comment if these score are definitely low?!?
Searching scores on google would indicate that they are low

I still can't seem to get my card to change from PCI-E 1.1x16@8 still.
Since this card was previously used as a slave card in a system, could the issue be that I haven't flashed the card?

Some insight would be greatly appreciated. Does anyone know where I can find a guide regarding flashing the vbios for my 5870m?

 

Your vbios is very much out of date.

Now to update the vbios. If that is unsuccessful we will flash a master bios.
1. Get a USB drive that you can format
2. Go to MS-DOS Bootable Flash Drive - Create - Windows 7 Support Forums and follow the instructions to create an MS-DOS flashable USB drive. The top of the thread will have the download links for the HP Flash Utility and the Win98DOS zip containing the necessary files. Just make sure to click the quick format box or the utility will take forever to format your USB drive.
3. Once HP utility is finished with the USB drive, open the IMAGE.zip file and extract the image folder to your desktop.
4. Copy the contents of the image folder to the USB drive EXCEPT the COMMAND COM file.
5. Restart and go into your BIOS (make sure to leave the USB drive plugged in).
6. In the BOOT tab, bring the USB drive to the top of the list with +. Save and exit
7. The system will restart and should go thru the POST screen again. But it should not boot to Windows. Instead you should get a black screen for 4-5 seconds then a warning about flashing the VBIOS should show up. Confirm it and flash the VBIOS. After it's done flashing, it should restart. Unplug the USB drive when it does and boot back into Windows.

I will PM you the Image.zip file shortly.

If you still have problems, we will try to flash the bios of the card to master.

Delete everything visible off the USB drive except for the atiflash.exe and the BIOS rom files. If the update happens automatically then it is trying to update with the Dell .104 rom file, which isn’t what we want. We want to use the atiflash -f -p 0 bios0.rom command which will manually push the BIOS0.rom file to the master card.

I will PM you the master card bios.

Credit goes to Radji since he walked me through this last week,

 

If i recollect from memory, when I had an Xfire 4870 setup in my R2, on stock speeds i believe my scores were in the P12xxx.
So to me your Vantage score doesn't look out of the ordinary for a single 5870 setup.

Would you be able to post the URL to your 3d mark run so I can have a more in-depth look?
Also keep in mind a 5870 is an older card and starts showing its age, and FC 3 is currently one of the most demanding games around, so maybe not the best game to test with ^^

The vbios on a slave card is exactly the same as on a master card. There is no difference, only some manufacturers include a number or sign so its easy to identify which is which.
I wouldn't start wit flashing a vbios as a first troubleshooting step though, there's plenty stuff we can check with you.

 

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 video card benchmark result - Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9000,Alienware score: P8150 3DMarks

Let me know if that link to my 3dmark vantage score works.

Also, I flashed my vbios, but I still seem to be stuck on PCI-E 1.1x16@8. Is this something to be even concerned with?
Yesterday I removed all ATI driver, then installed the Dell 5870m driver first. After doing this, I was able to boot my computer with PCI Gen 2 enabled in my system bios, and after that GPU-Z showed that I was in PCI-E 2.0
But then I updated the ATI drivers, and again my computer won't boot with PCI Gen 2, so again it still says I am always on PCI-E 1.1x16@8